Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-04-25
AMONG THE TELEGRAPHERS.
Busy Hours in a Great Temple Of Elec
tricity-Swin Operators

Busy Hours in Great Temple Of Elec-
tricity-Swin Operators.
A busy scene was revealed when the
door opened. Il was, indeed. a small vii
lage. for 500 operators were tapping away
at racing speed, while 1870 clerks and mes
sengers swiftly fitted to and fro.
This is our day force" said Mr.. Bren-
nan, the assistant manager. Ninety
others take their places at night. The
fifty you see up there i'll the gallery attend
TO the commercial news, ticker service,
stock reports, etc. They use the Morse
instruments.
What proportion Of the force is COM
posed of ladies,'
about one-fourth.
Are they as efficient as men,
Not quite Still they are very expert,
We have three married ladies. Most Of
the Wheatstone operators are women.
Have you any colored operators
''Not one. And so far rs my know =
ledge extends there is not a colored opera
tor in the United States. At any rate,
never heard of one"
who are the veterans Of the service
"Well, there are two that have beea at
work for the company for quarter Of IA
century You see, we have but very few
gray or bald heads The operators begin
work when they are about - or 10 years
old
Where are your operator nurseries,"
'In the country. Nearly the entire
force took their first lessons in the offices
along the Erie, Pennsylvania and Hudson
River railroads, and in the eastern states.
Their ambition brings them here. They
get from $50 to Ssj per month, according
10 length Of service, efficiency and eX-
perience.
'tWlat are those curious instruments on
which they are pounding with what look
like pegs
Those are the Whcatstone automatic
machines 1t works st. Louis. Chicago
and New Orleans, and averages each cir
cult ,, 500 to 1900 messages per day. The
peculiarly of the Nheatstone instrument
is that the messagr is first punched for
Transmission. and then these PUNCHED slips
are passed through transmitting ma
chine. which records each dot. dash AMI
space in the corresponding machine ut the
other terminus Each stroke Of The pegs
represents dot, dash Or space The ines
sages received are printed on chemically
prepared papeT and are translated and
Irinted BY type writer's. The Wheat
stone machine has been in use about four
years. The operators average about the
same as the Morse operators.
What teams turn out the most mes
sages:"
The operators on the broker wires.
The Chicago board OF trade and the New
York produce exchange handle 600 mes
sages, while only 300 are handled on the
main wires between the same cities. n
broker firm cuts its message as short as
possible and sign the name of Brown,
Bates & Brown, B. b. & j.. while the full
name is given in general messages. The
cable messages are like those of brokers,
and more can be handled than Of ordinary
messages because of their shortneSs-
.'How fast do the cables work"
'They go just about as fast as an aver
age wire. We send message aud get an
answer from London i'll seven minutes.
The cables To England and the land line TO
San Francisco are just about the same
length, 3, 250 miles"
You make both ends meet here, don't
you''
''Oh, yes. The operator on the right
works with Hearts Content, 100 miles
east, and the operator next TO him talks
with Omaha, 800 miles west. We have
a circuit with jacksonville of 100 miles,
and one with Galveston Of 100 miles. :"
Are any of the operators affected by
the work"'
Yes. Some of them get the teleg-
rapher's cramp from holding the pen in
one position for length of time. A large
number thus affected in their right hands
have learned to use their left instead" "
"Do they get over it,''
'sNot thoroughly. The doctors have
Just begun investigating il. Operators
can prevent il by proper-exerciSe. New
York Sun.